SIRAHA, Jan 27: In a bizarre case that demonstrates how far today´s youths can go to fulfill their dreams, a school boy is found to have hatched a plot to get himself kidnapped by his friends so that he could buy a new motorcycle.
After being rescued by police, Sanjay Singh, a 16-year-old boy from Chandrodaya VDC-3 in Siraha, who was believed to be abducted by an unidentified group on January 7, revealed that he had himself asked one of his friends to kidnap him to buy a new Pulsar bike with the ransom amount. Sanjay was rescued by police five days ago.[break]
"We spent fuel worth Rs 50,000 -- apart from our precious time -- to find Sanjay," said Siraha District Police chief SP Rajesh Lal Karna. "It felt like we were fooled when Sanjay told us that he had himself plotted his abduction." Police have kept Sanjay, a ninth grader at JVM School in Golbazaar of Siraha, in custody for investigation.
According to what Sanjay told police, Santosh Yadav, 18, of Asanpur VDC-8 in Siraha, was thinking of abducting some rich man for making quick buck. They would often meet at local tea shops in Golbazaar. A month ago, Santosh had asked Sanjay if he knew any boy whose father would easily pay a huge ransom amount.
That was when an evil thought struck Sanjay. He had been asking his father Bijay Singh, branch manager of Rashtriya Banijya Bank (RBB) at Kanautha in Saptari, for a bike, but the father refused. Therefore Sanjay told Santosh: "Why don´t you kidnap me? You just buy me a Pulsar bike. You can keep the rest of the ransom amount."
Santosh agreed. They went to Lahan. Sanjay was kept in a room owned by one of Santosh´s acquaintances. Santosh asked for Rs 900,000 as ransom from Bijay. But Bijay kept on refusing to pay the ransom.
Meanwhile, police arrested Santosh´s mother Ram Kumari and brother Anil after concluding that the phone number used in calling for ransom belonged to Santosh. After this, Santosh released Sanjay without getting ransom. When Sanjay said that he himself was behind his kidnapping, Police let Santosh off the hook.
Police are, however, searching for Santosh again. "We let Santosh go thinking that he was not involved," said SP Karna. "Now it seems that he was also involved in the plot, so we are trying to arrest him again."